To the extent that Christians and Christianity teach non-harming, and promoting love and kindess, "Buddhism" will reflect positively.

To the extent that Christianity relies on "faith in God" or in Jesus, Buddhism will say such faith is misplaced. Respect, and even admiration, for Jesus, sure....but mere belief and faith as salvific, nope......Buddhists do not agree.

What is "salvific," for Buddhists, is experiental abiding in Reality, and removing Ignorance about Truth. These have nothing to do with "God," or with "belief," even....

The above comments are just general "brushstrokes," perhaps the most important differences or contrasts between the two....as I said, it's a huge (and, frankly, ultimately somewhat useless) project to address all the similarities and differences..

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

To the extent that Christians and Christianity teach non-harming, and promoting love and kindess, "Buddhism" will reflect positively.

To the extent that Christianity relies on "faith in God" or in Jesus, Buddhism will say such faith is misplaced. Respect, and even admiration, for Jesus, sure....but mere belief and faith as salvific, nope......Buddhists do not agree.

What is "salvific," for Buddhists, is experiental abiding in Reality, and removing Ignorance about Truth. These have nothing to do with "God," or with "belief," even....

The above comments are just general "brushstrokes," perhaps the most important differences or contrasts between the two....as I said, it's a huge (and, frankly, ultimately somewhat useless) project to address all the similarities and differences..

One particular parrallel between Buddhism and Christianity as that both have factors of Enlightenment. Albeit in different ways

If you wish to learn about Buddhism, you need to take it on it's own terms. You will not understand Buddhism by trying to compare it with Christianity. Just as one example, whatever Christianity says about "Enlightenment," I guarantee it has nothing to do with "Enlightenment" in Buddhism.

If you wish to learn about Buddhism, you need to maintain an open mind, and resist trying to force Buddhist concepts into equivalancies with other traditions.

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

"Buddhist thought" maintains a doctrine of Anatta. Impermanence. All conditioned phenomena are impermanent by nature. Notions of "soul," or some sort of essential, unchanging selfhood, are mere concepts, with no reality, according to Buddhism.

Why is this so? Because no such soul or self can be found, upon inspection.

Keep reading.....I think Rahula's book will explain this.

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

Wesley1982 wrote:I'm sure that some Christians who properly understand the 'Christian Bible' would object to "idol worship" or declare "false gods."

What do we say to that? not sure.

Ancient Greeks who worshipped Zeus would probably object to a notion of Jesus and proclaim him a false god.. With belief systems it all comes down to where/when you were raised. So what does that tell you? They're just beliefs... Buddhism isn't based in belief but in empirical investigation and understanding which comes from experience and practice. There are some sub sects of Buddhism which are more of a belief system but the majority isn't. If you approach Buddhism as being a mere belief system like christianity then (in my opinion) you won't be getting the full experience. It's more of a practical undertaking based on trial/error, cause/effect, reasoning etc..

And again the tendency for Christians (or any other religion) to declare other religions/philosophies 'idol worship' or 'false gods' is due to the fact that they're identifying with a belief. And in order for that belief to be legitimate one has to negate everything else, it's done out of insecurity. Buddhism (in the most compassionate way possible) calls this ignorance and dualistic attachment and instead seeks to understand how the mind falls prey to such behavior and teaches how to prevent it.

Last edited by asunthatneversets on Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.